


SSPB-015: The Girl Who Cried Wolf

by StellarStylus



Series: StellarStylus Plot Bunny farm [15]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angry Alya Césaire, Angst, Comfort, Drama, Hurt, I promise no more tags about Lila Rossi - whoops too late, Lila Rossi Bashing, Lila Rossi Lies, Lila Rossi Redemption, Lila Rossi and her stupid hair, Lila Rossi needs a new hairdo, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Lupalia, Plot Bunny, Queen Bee's identity is a secret, SCREW SEASON 3, Salt, Wolf Miraculous, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:35:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24082192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StellarStylus/pseuds/StellarStylus
Summary: Plot bunny one-shot, up for adoption. Lila has been exposed for the liar she is, and now all her peers rightfully distrust and dislike her for it. Now she doesn't know what to do next, and... wait, what's that small black box doing in a corner of her living room? (Lila Rossi Redemption; please keep an open mind) (Illustration by Liehl-FerZ, commissioned and paid for by the author)
Series: StellarStylus Plot Bunny farm [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1553272
Comments: 21
Kudos: 64
Collections: Lila Anon Support Group, 奇迹瓢虫剧情向の漂亮作品





	SSPB-015: The Girl Who Cried Wolf

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KivatheDCWizard](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KivatheDCWizard/gifts), [lordMartiya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lordMartiya/gifts), [Khanofallorcs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khanofallorcs/gifts), [SonicPossible00](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonicPossible00/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Miraculous Alliance](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21196901) by [KivatheDCWizard](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KivatheDCWizard/pseuds/KivatheDCWizard). 



> DISCLAIMER: I don't own… Additionally, the art you see with Lila as a wolf-themed Miraculous wielder was commissioned by myself the author.  
> ADDITIONAL DISCLAIMER: The villains "Montezumae" and "Lady Mercury" and "Cacus" are my own creations, and this depiction of Lila's father is original as we have yet to see him in canon.  
> IMPORTANT NOTES: This is a Season 2 AU story in which Ladybug, Cat Noir, Rena Rouge, Carapace and Queen Bee are a permanent team of heroes, and Chloé NEVER revealed herself on live TV or did anything like that stunt with the train. I extend great gratitude to KivaTheDCWizard and lord Martiya and Khanofallorcs and SonicPossible00 and Liehl-FerZ for reasons explained below in the end-notes.  
> Furthermore, I'm making it so that (1) Lila's mother isn't an ambassador or diplomat but merely a secretary and all kinds of general support staff, and (2) Lila's mother Benigna Rossi is a single parent, with the father absent from the picture for certain not-so-great reasons; I did all this for story purposes.  
> TRIGGER WARNING: Implied domestic violence and spousal abuse.

**_"TENE LUPUM AURIBUS"_  
** **—Latin proverb ("take the wolf by the ears")**

* * *

"So, Lila, what will you do now?"

Lila Rossi looked up at Cat Noir as he asked her that question, and her eyes slid over to Ladybug standing by his side. And off to another side, their three allies — Rena Rouge, Carapace, and Queen Bee — politely watched as well.

Without even thinking about it, her hand drifted upwards to the choker around her neck, from which hung a pendant in the shape of a wolf's head.

They all sat in the shade provided by the top of the apartment building where Lila and her mother lived, hopefully out of view of most people who might see them.

She thought back to how it all began less than a full week ago…

* * *

Lila had gotten the shock of her life when a new student had transferred to Collège François Dupont, an exchange student from Mexico. But how could she have known that it would be someone she'd known before?

And the other girl, Lùz, had raised quite a stink when she ran into Lila Rossi. As for Lila herself, she was later told that she'd had "the perfect deer-in-headlights look" when she saw the newcomer.

The result was a fierce argument going back and forth, with Lùz screaming profanities in Spanish and Lila cursing her own bad luck in Italian. Once the dust had finally settled with the teachers breaking up the argument, Lùz told her side of the story, with how Lila had dazzled their entire class back in Mexico with tall tales but was already gone by the time people figured out the truth.

And her next stop just happened to be here in France.

And so Lùz had stormed out in a huff, while the rest of her classmates and all the other students in the school glared at her…

What followed next was a blur, but barely five minutes after Lùz had screamed for all to hear about what a liar Lila Rossi was, she had returned as the latest akumatized villain. Decked out like an Aztec warrior donning red spots on black like a Montezuma Lady Beetle, and wielding a wicked-looking weapon known as a _macuahuitl_ , Lùz now called herself "Montezumae" and declared that she was out for Lila Rossi.

Needless to say, Lila bolted.

She spent the next few hours sneaking around Paris and trying to hide from Montezumae. _Now_ she remembered Lùz, and how her family of archeologists had discovered some ancient records of an ancient Aztec ladybug-themed warrior named Mikasoyolin around the same time that Ladybug had first appeared in Paris. And Lùz was clearly very bitter about having been deceived by Lila when she'd spun some lie back in Mexico about having known people who claimed to be direct descendants of Mikasoyolin.

Luckily, Ladybug and Cat Noir had finally managed to defeat the latest akumatized villain, as always. And it just so happened to be towards the end of the day when she finally hauled herself back to school to get her things…

…and face her very angry class.

She cowered before them, stunned and genuinely afraid for her well-being. She didn't even bother trying with the fake tears; she knew it wouldn't do her any good this time.

They had all shot her dark looks, Nino in particular had fumed about her empty promises of connecting him to Hollywood bigshots in the entertainment industry, and Alya had ranted and raved the most out of all of them, about how Lila had made a fool out of her and what this would do for her blog.

Even Ms. Bustier, who was usually such a nice and gentle person who always sought to find and bring out the best in people, gave her a dark scowl.

But perhaps what got under Lila's skin the most was the guarded looks on the faces of both those goody two shoes kids Marinette and Adrien. If anything, they looked torn between anger at her tricks, vindication at finally seeing her go down, and genuine concern that somebody might actually really hurt her.

In hindsight, it was a good thing that the akuma battle had taken so long that she had only come back at the end of the school day, because she didn't think she would have survived otherwise.

But as for what awaited Lila once she got home…

That had led to a fight with her mother which, frankly, had been inevitable for a while now.

Lila knew that lying was wrong, but she couldn't help it. It was the only way she knew how to cope with the stress of constantly moving around all over the world and the burden of never being able to settle in one place for very long. Besides, she knew that her mother was hiding something, but would never tell her what.

She was so angry that she tore at her hair and even undid her "signature" hair style, and didn't bother trying to redo it after that. (She especially didn't want to redo it like it was before, not after she'd heard some people call her things like "sausage hair" behind her back. Why didn't anybody tell her that!?)

Lila went to bed angry that night, and she woke up far too early the next morning to the sound of arguing coming from downstairs.

She crept downstairs just in time to see her mother arguing with a very familiar man, but she stayed out of sight as they argued and he finally left when her mother threatened to call the police on him.

Once he was gone from the premises, Lila confronted her mother.

Only then did Lila finally learn the truth.

Benigna Rossi admitted that Lila's father Vincenzo had been a bad husband, which was why she had divorced him when Lila was only a baby, because he had become so threatening towards his wife. Furthermore, he had been suspected (but never arrested) for illegal activities such as theft and fraud.

Lila was floored. Stunned. Flabbergasted.

All this time, Lila had assumed that her mother was simply indecisive, with how often they'd moved around from one place to the next around the world. And somehow, Lila had gotten this notion into her head that her mother had been inconsiderate of her daughter's own needs… when, in fact, all this time Benigna Rossi had simply been trying to protect her daughter.

Benigna Rossi might have only been a secretary to the ambassador in any given country, but it allowed her more flexibility. And so when Vincenzo found them again sooner or later, Benigna would tell Lila to pack up, and they would move on to the next country.

_This changed everything._

Lila could just _feel_ her entire worldview shattering like a glass window.

But as Mrs. Rossi left the room to return to her own bedroom to compose herself, Lila noticed a small black box lying on the floor in a corner of the room.

This caught her attention, her curiosity piqued. What could it be? Could it be something her father dropped?

Her mother had said that Lila's father had stolen things in the past; could he have robbed this from somebody else?

Before her mother could return to the scene, Lila quickly snatched it up and retreated to her own bedroom.

She was just about to open it when her mother called for her to come down to the kitchen for breakfast. Still very curious and now also disappointed, Lila shoved the box away in her dresser drawer, resolving to revisit it after school.

When Lila's mother finally dropped her daughter off at school that morning (because Benigna didn't trust her daughter to go to school on time on her own), Lila found herself wandering through the halls in a daze as she headed to her homeroom. She didn't even bother acknowledging the looks of anger and disgust which just about every other student was throwing her way.

Lila tried to apologize, but no one wanted to listen to her. She supposed she couldn't blame them. And so she spent another day tolerating the glares and stares from her peers.

It wasn't until Lila got back home that she remembered the small black box secured away in her room, and rushed to revisit it.

Her mother was busy (as always!), so after making sure that she wouldn't be back anytime soon, Lila decided to find out what was in the box.

So she opened the box to find a shining gray light, which gave way to what looked like a small wolf-like being floating in front of her.

"Hello there! I am Luupa, the Kwami of Unity!"

Lila was dumbfounded, until the wolf-like Kwami explained to her about the Miraculous… and then she connected the dots.

"Wait… you mean to tell me that Ladybug and Cat Noir get their powers from beings like you?"

Luupa was confounded as Lila tried to explain to her about the superheroes protecting Paris… not just Ladybug and Cat Noir, but also their allies Rena Rouge and Carapace and Queen Bee.

"Ah, that sounds like the wielders of the Miraculous for the Ladybug, the Black Cat, the Fox, the Turtle, and the Bee!"

But then Lila described their nemesis Hawk Moth and how he was using his "akuma" butterflies to turn people into villains, and then Luupa looked horrified.

"Oh no… I'm not sure what happened during my slumber, but it sounds like somebody got a hold of the Butterfly and has been using it for evil purposes! It gives the power of change, and it's supposed to be used to make Champions, not evil minions!"

Well, Lila thought, that wasn't good at all.

"Wait, then where are you from?"

Luupa looked delighted that someone had asked her that question, and gave her a brief yet condensed history.

"There were hundreds, if not thousands, of Miraculous in the temple of the Order. And now you're saying I've been lying dormant for at least two hundred years, maybe more? I should have been returned properly once the last mission was done! Something must have happened…"

But before they could continue their conversation any further, they could hear a fierce argument going on downstairs, with what sounded like Benigna and Vincenzo arguing with each other… but then Lila could hear her mother screaming in horror, while her father shouted and cursed at the top of his lungs over the sound of various things being smashed.

Lila didn't even think twice; she immediately rushed to the window and scrambled out through it, down the fire escape. She could even _feel_ the building shaking as she jumped down to the ground off the final rung of the ladder and ran off.

Now an ugly giant of a fire-breathing monster calling himself "Cacus" was rampaging through downtown Paris. And judging by how he kept calling for Benigna Rossi and Lila Rossi, demanding that they appear before him and obey him, they could easily guess as to his identity.

After Lila ran a dozen blocks away from her home, and only when she paused to catch her breath in a dark alleyway did she realize that she still had the Miraculous of the Wolf in her pocket.

"Good thing you didn't let go of me, otherwise then you couldn't use me!" Luupa piped up.

"Oh, Luupa… what am I going to do now?"

"You could use me to transform and become a hero!" Luupa said. "Actually, that would be a good idea, because then if you were transformed into a Miraculous hero, then your own parents wouldn't recognize you behind the mask!"

"Seriously?" Lila gaped at her. "It really works that way?"

"Oh, come on!" Luupa laughed. "How else do you think Ladybug and Cat Noir and all the others have been able to get away with being unidentified, despite only wearing domino masks? I bet their hairstyles don't even change that much either way!"

Lila pressed for more details, and so Luupa told her just what the Miraculous of the Wolf did, what kind of powers it would impart onto the user.

"Still… you really think I could pull this off?"

Luupa could sense and clearly see Lila's hesitation and self-doubt. Not only was she not sure if she could actually pull this off, but she doubted that she was worthy, after both what she'd done as plain old Lila Rossi and the stunts which she'd pulled as this "Volpina" character (Lila had shamefully admitted to everything she'd done so far since coming to Paris).

"Of course you can, girl! This is your chance! Ever hear the old Latin saying _tene lupum auribus_ — 'take the wolf by the ears'? Alright, fine, you kids nowadays might say 'take the bull by the horns,' but it's the same principle, honestly!"

Lila then heard the heavy stomping footsteps of her akumatized monster of a father outside the alleyway, but she didn't dare look up.

Well, it was better than nothing…

Her mind made up, Lila put on the choker, with the wolf's head resting against her breastbone.

_"Let's do it."_

"Now that's my girl!" Luupa cheered.

And so Lila said the magical words:

_"Luupa, rally the pack!"_

The kwami flew into the Choker of the Wolf, and the wolf's head transformed to show its one eye open and its open mouth bearing its fangs, and Lila transformed herself…

* * *

_Lila ran her hands over her eyes, and a domino mask appeared, with various shades of gray and two white fangs poking underneath both eyes. She then ran her hands up over her head, and two wolf ears popped out through her hair from the top of her head. She could even feel the magical energy running through her hair, and when she looked in the mirror for the first time since her transformation, she would see the bangs on either side of her head where her tassels used to be were now tinged with dark gray towards the tips, and her now-looser mane of hair started to become a dark gray after running down past her shoulders._

_Her torso was black between her neck and her bust, and her chest was white like a wolf's underbelly, which ran down her legs but was interrupted by a wide black "belt" around her waist. She had solid black "gloves" which stopped just short of her elbows and were separated by the gray of her arms by diagonal white stripes, and likewise, she had solid black "boots" which went just up to her knees and were separated by the gray of her upper legs by diagonal white stripes. Additionally, she had a wolf's tail like Rena Rouge's "coattail" for the other superheroine's fox-themed outfit, a length of gray which ended in three white stripes like an actual wolf's tail._

_A sword like an ancient Roman gladius materialized in her right hand, with a gold wolf's paw symbol at the base of the blade just above the hilt, while the hilt itself showed a wolf's face head-on. She gave it a few experimental swings, to show that she knew what she was doing._

_She struck a pose, ready to fight…_

* * *

And then she noticed the heroes approach her. How had they noticed her? Maybe they noticed the flash of light from her transformation?

"Wait, who are you?" Ladybug demanded to know.

"Call me… Lupalia!" she declared, trying to hide her nervousness.

They were hesitant to trust her at first, and she had no doubt as to why…

"Wait… how do we know this isn't a trick?" Cat Noir said suspiciously. "Especially after Volpina?"

Oh, how ironic, Lila thought. If only they knew that they were dealing with the girl who used to be Volpina when she was akumatized…

Still, she had to give Cat Noir credit; at least he had learned from that time.

"Look, I don't know how I can prove it without dropping my transformation and giving myself away, but right now we've got a giant fire-breathing monster running around looking for that Lila Rossi girl and her mother," Lupalia said. (Even now, she was surprised at how smoothly she was able to lie and refer to herself and her own parents as if they were completely different people.)

But before they could interrogate her any further, Cacus took them all by surprise. They all nearly jumped out of their skin as he loomed over them, his gullet glowing as he prepared to breath fire on them once again—

Without even really thinking about it, Lupalia swung her sword and used her special power:

_"Pack Unity!"_

She swung her sword upwards, and bright lines of silver light shot out from the blade and connected to her teammates—

_She was now connected to them — Ladybug, Cat Noir, Rena Rouge, Carapace, Queen Bee — through their minds. None of them could invade each other's minds, and all information to be shared was freely given, but she could feel their emotions. She felt their bravery, their optimism, their cunning, their resolve, their confidence… and now, as Lupalia, she was joined with them, fighting as part of a team for a greater purpose._

The other five Miraculous heroes resisted at first, alarmed by the sudden seeming intrusion into their minds, but then they realized that they had nothing to fear.

And they could also sense something about Lupalia as well:

_She just wanted to fit in and be part of a group again._

It was all so chaotic and disorganized at first, with all of them somehow sharing the same mental space, this magical equivalent of a virtual chat room… but then they realized how this could benefit them.

The only reason they didn't get roasted alive on the spot was because Cacus had hesitated for a moment as this new hero used her unfamiliar powers… but a moment was all that the heroes needed.

Bystanders would later describe the ensuing beatdown as rather comical, as all six Miraculous heroes leapt into action and simply jumped up at and hit Cacus, punching him and kicking him and whacking him with their weapons (yo-yo, staff, flute, shield, trompo, and sword) until he finally relented and dropped the akumatized object (Vincenzo's cigarette lighter).

Once Vincenzo had reverted back to normal, it took all of Lupalia's self-control not to do any lasting damage to him with her sword. After all, she was a hero now, and heroes didn't do that sort of thing.

Luckily, Officer Roger Raincomprix had arrived on the scene and followed the trail of destruction (one of Lila's neighbors had phoned in a report for possible domestic abuse after hearing the fight between Benigna Rossi and her scumbag husband spiral out of control), and immediately moved in to arrest Vincenzo.

Lila's rotten father had immediately protested, citing how akumatized citizens couldn't be held responsible for their actions, but then Officer Raincomprix gestured to the group of Interpol agents tagging along…

Lila had never seen anyone go so pale so fast as her father did in that moment.

The Interpol agents were citing an entire litany of crimes which Vincenzo had committed, including forgery for things like fake passports (which certainly explained how he was able to keep following Benigna and Lila around the world), and while he was being loaded into the police cruiser, Lupalia made her hasty escape.

Less than five minutes later, she was back in her bedroom, and the transformation dropped when she said, _"Luupa, scatter the pack!"_

And so Lila stood in her place again, while Luupa tried to make herself comfortable.

The next day, however, things were still tense between Lila and her mother. It was only when Lila got back home from school, after another day of everyone shunning her and her giving the rest of them space, did things finally come to head.

The sudden and unwanted return of her father might have delayed it, but now Benigna Rossi wanted some answers for her daughter about all the lying Lila had done over the past few years.

Lila tried to defend herself, pointing out how she couldn't take it with the stress of moving around all the time and never being able to make friends or commit to anything in the long term, all because her mother kept moving them around the world with no real reason given… ("Okay, fine, I had no idea it was because of my jerk of a father," Lila then hastily added, "but still…")

And so the argument went all downhill from there. Lila couldn't remember exactly what either of them said, but it ended with Benigna trying to grab something away from Lila — one of the things she'd owned the longest, this cute little compass which she got when she was a little girl — and Lila trying to snatch it back, Lila finding herself pushed backward… and then seeing Hawk Moth's glowing purple sigil over her mother's face.

Lila let out a string of foul Italian curses which she normally wouldn't have said in front of her own mother, but ironically, this was the one time she didn't and wouldn't have cared, because she was under Hawk Moth's spell.

Once again, she fled her own apartment, but this time she ran in the opposite direction.

"Lila!" a voice shouted from an alleyway. "Quick! Over here!"

Confused but eager for any kind of chance at escape, she complied… and found herself facing all five Miraculous heroes.

"Please don't be offended, Lila," Ladybug said calmly, "but we figured it couldn't hurt to keep an eye on you at your home, especially after the last two akumatized villains happened and how they're connected back to you…"

Lila instantly got angry and offended that she was being spied upon (or so she thought), but Cat Noir was quick to try and placate her: "We don't think you're up to anything, but after the last two, and just now we saw the akuma flying towards your home again…"

And at that particular moment they heard a gust of wind and saw a blur flashing by in the street outside the alleyway.

Lila felt she should have been flattered that all five heroes were watching her and were trying to protect her, even after everything that had happened since she first moved to Paris, but she needed to get away so she could transform again…

"What are you doing, you fool?" Queen Bee hissed. "We're trying to protect you!"

Lila sighed. She looked down at her purse, and she could see Luupa looking back up at her, nodding ever so slightly.

So be it, then.

"Guys," she said slowly, "I realize I have no right to ask you to trust me after everything that's happened, but can you all keep a secret?"

"And what would _that_ be?" Rena Rouge retorted, arms crossed over her chest. (Did Lila know her in real life, outside the costume? It would have explained a few things.)

Taking a deep breath and discreetly making sure that no one else could see them, Lila announced, "Luupa, rally the pack!"

"No way," Carapace muttered, his eyes going wide behind his lenses as they all saw Luupa fly out of Lila's purse and into the now-activated Miraculous of the Wolf…

A moment later, Lupalia stood before them once again, ready to go. "Well, at least now she can't recognize me like this, right?" she said helpfully, trying not to laugh at their stupefied expressions.

Sighing, she then said, "Look, I can explain everything later, but for now can we please just focus on my akumatized mother? Please?"

That seemed to snap them out of it, and so they did just that.

Apparently, Benigna Rossi had been akumatized into a speedster going by the name "Lady Mercury" and looked like a sleek modernized version of the classical deity from whom she got her name. All six heroes leapt up to another rooftop to watch her and observe her behavior to come up with a plan.

After several minutes of watching Lady Mercury zip and zoom around Paris, looking for Lila with the intention of dragging her around the world on a tour to make her apologize to all the people she'd lied to in every country they'd ever been to, the six heroes decided it was enough and time to come up with a plan.

As Ladybug was formulating a plan, Lupalia discovered that she also had a secondary power: Just like how Cat Noir had night vision, she had what could be best described as "ally vision." Basically, she could see different people in different colors, depending on whether they were allies, enemies, or neutral bystanders.

It was kind of weird yet strangely cool, seeing flashing lenses over her eyes which sparkled different colors.

"Whoa, this is crazy," she commented. "You're all in red, everyone else walking by is in green, and I'm guessing the sky blue blur is my mother." And then she wondered aloud, "Maybe it's customizing itself to my personal preferences…?"

"Wait, what?" Cat Noir asked, not quite understanding the logic behind that. "Why those colors?"

Lupalia finally retracted the lenses and the other five heroes could see her olive green eyes behind the domino mask again. "Maybe it's just my modern Roman sensibilities," she said with a shrug. "Red and gold are Rome's colors, and sky blue is the color of SS Lazio, who are traditionally the 'villains' of Italian soccer." After seeing some of their still-puzzled expressions, she hastily added, "I can explain why later."

"Right," Ladybug said, taking control again. "So, let's come up with a plan…"

The turning to Lupalia, she said, "Your 'Pack Unity' power is extremely useful. I think we're going to need it again if we're going to trick and subdue Lady Mercury, given how fast she is. We need to get the timing just right."

Lupalia smiled. It wasn't an evil smirk, but an actual smile. "You can count on me, Ladybug. What's the plan?"

Ladybug carefully laid out the plan, and once they were absolutely sure what to do, Lupalia got the cue to use her special power once again…

_"Pack Unity!"_

And with five minutes and counting left until Lupalia's transformation dropped, they had to act fast.

And they pulled it off: They had managed to capture and subdue Lady Mercury. First they had set up an illusion of a fake "Lila Rossi" using Rena Rouge's Mirage, then managed to trip her with the length of rope which Ladybug had summoned with her Lucky Charm and used as a trap, then trap her _inside_ the protective dome made by Carapace's Shelter, immobilize the villainess with Queen Bee's Venom, and finally Cat Noir used his Cataclysm to destroy the immobilized object.

After Ladybug used her Miraculous Cure to fix everything, they stayed for a moment to comfort a back-to-normal Benigna Rossi (and Lupalia's eyes lingered on the restored keepsake of hers which had held the akuma all this time), they consoled her and reassured her that her daughter Lila was surely fine.

Just then, Lupalia's choker beeped one more time to indicate only one minute remaining until she transformed back, and she hastily excused herself to rush back home before her mother could return there as well.

And once she was back in her bedroom, with the doors shut and the curtains drawn…

_"Luupa, scatter the pack!"_

And with that, the transformation dropped, and Lupalia reverted back to Lila in her casual civilian outfit.

Later that night, Lila had a really long talk her mother about everything they had gone through…

It was painful but it was also long overdue, and in the end it was worth it.

"If it makes you feel any better, kid," Luupa had commented to her later, "I knew both Romulus and Remus personally, back in Rome's earliest days, and I could tell you how that ended. You're lucky that you've still got family you can rely upon."

Lila fervently agreed with her new kwami.

The next day, things were fine at school, or at least as fine as they could be with everyone still mistrusting her.

She gave them space, and they gave her a wide berth.

It was the best she could do at the moment, honestly.

She was now the proverbial "boy who cried wolf," and it was up to her to fix this mess of her own making.

It was only towards the end of the day when she got the chance to give an apology to the rest of the class.

"I'm sorry, everyone."

They didn't look like they believed her, but they all listened to her anyway.

"Why, Lila?" Alya couldn't help but interject. Out of all of them, she'd been the most hurt. "Why did you lie to us all?"

Lila took a deep breath before continuing.

"I'm not seeking anyone's sympathy or pity, and I don't want to waste everyone's time telling my life's story, but basically… well, basically, I thought things would just be easier if I told people what I thought they wanted to hear, not what they needed to hear."

Now all that hostility towards her was tinged with confusion. Seeing their looks, she continued to elaborate: "Basically, somehow I got this stupid notion in my head that, because people generally believe what they want to believe, it would be easier if I told them what I thought they wanted to hear.

"There were times when I tried to tell people the truth, something important, but they didn't want to hear it. I tried telling my classmates in a class that I didn't know any famous celebrities, and they were like, 'Get lost, Rossi!' Or I could try telling my mother that I was having a hard time at school; her response? 'Not now, Lila!' And then considering how often we moved, how many countries we've been to in the past few years alone, so I couldn't make any solid friends or visit anywhere nice or make any other kind of long-term plans…"

She took a moment to stop herself. She realized that she was getting angrier, seething with resentment at those old memories. They could see the rest of her class looking at her warily, as if they were afraid she might flip out on them…

She also took a quick glance to the windows on the side of the building. No akumas were coming her way. Good. None of them wanted or needed another akumatized villain so soon, especially after Lila herself had been connected to the last three in a row.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, Lila, I really am," Adrien sincerely spoke up, taking them all by surprise. "But just because one or two groups of people treated you like that, doesn't mean _all_ people are like that."

Lila sighed. "I know, I know… and even along the way, I knew that what I was doing was I wrong. I just… I just couldn't stop myself. I was lying to myself as much as I was lying to everyone and anyone else. But I just didn't want to go through that again. Better for everyone else to think that I had much to offer instead of nothing to offer, better to pretend that I was happy than admit I was miserable… or so I kept telling myself."

And then she added, grumbling, "Granted, now I know _why_ my mother kept moving me around… to get away from that… that _jerk_ who calls himself my father. All this time, because of him…"

"You're not blaming _him_ for all this, are you?" Marinette said quietly.

Lila locked her gaze onto the other girl. Even though Lila had promised herself and everyone else that she would turn over a new leaf and start fresh, maybe a small part of her still resented Marinette Dupain-Cheng and felt irritated by her endlessly optimistic and hopeful attitude.

And for a moment there, Lila was so tempted to backslide and fall back on her old habits, blaming everyone and anyone except herself for her own disappointments and inconveniences…

But then she felt Luupa bouncing around inside her purse, subtly nudging her hip as a gentle warning. _Don't do it,_ Lila could almost hear the lupine kwami saying, _don't turn back now._

Swallowing her pride, Lila made what she knew to be the right choice.

"No," she said at last. "No, I'm not blaming him for all the grief he's caused my family, and I'm definitely not blaming my mother for withholding the truth because she didn't know how else to protect me. The decision to resort to lies and make-believe to cope with it was mine and mine alone."

(Perhaps later, she would feel some relief at having admitted her guilt… but for now, all she could think of was how much pride this had cost her.)

She sighed again. "Look, my point is… I know I blew it with all of you, and none of you have any reason to trust me again after all that. I'm not going to complain about you being angry with me. But if any of you _do_ decide to give me a second chance, then I promise I won't waste it. Either way, I'll never give you another reason to distrust me or dislike me again."

Pausing, she said, "That's all I have to say."

She sat back down, and Ms. Bustier continued to wrap up the school day, covering assignments and other upcoming events.

As they all left, Lila was the last to leave, making sure that she had all her things. But as each of her classmates passed her, she subtly glanced at them, trying to read them and discern what they thought and how they felt about her.

They didn't seem quite so hostile now. If anything, a few of them even looked willing to give her another chance… eventually.

 _All in good time,_ she told herself. _Some things just can't be rushed._

* * *

And now, back in the present…

Lila wrested herself free from her memories and flashbacks to address the five other heroes standing before her.

"You asked what I would do now?" Lila responded. "Well… I would volunteer to join your team of heroes, but between how I still need to earn your trust more and how Mom has now grounded me for a month for lying, I don't think I can do that. If you want or need to take Luupa and the Wolf Choker so someone else can use it, I understand that… but still, can I at least hold onto them in the meantime?"

They all looked at each other, and finally Ladybug said, "I don't see why not." Then turning to Luupa, Ladybug asked, "How about it, Luupa, is that fine with you?"

Luupa seemed happy with that. "I'd love that. We're just starting to bond too, I can feel it!"

Lila smiled. "Lucky me, I always wanted a pet dog," she quipped.

Luupa shot her a mock hurt look but took it all in stride. The wolfish grin which she gave after dropping that mock hurt look showed how she really felt.

"Then I guess we'll let you keep her until we need her and until you can help us full-time again," Ladybug affirmed. "In the meantime… are you sure you'll be alright?"

Something about that query took Lila aback. The more she thought about it, she could tell that Ladybug wasn't asking it just to be polite, but because she was genuinely concerned for Lila's well-being.

As recently as a week ago, Lila wouldn't have thought it possible, but she had now managed to reconcile with Ladybug. Lila sincerely apologized for all the lies including the one about her being best friends with Ladybug, and Ladybug had apologized for confronting Lila in the park like that, admitting that she could have and should have handled that better.

With an honest reassuring smile, Lila replied, "Yeah, I'll be fine. I might be grounded for a month, but at least I can work things out with my mother and fix everything with her. And all this time, I've been wishing I could stay put in one place… I guess it's like they say, 'be careful what you wish for,' huh?"

But then something else occurred to Lila… and once she fully grasped it and appreciated it, she began to snicker and had to hide her smile behind her hand, but then it grew into full-blown laughter, and she finally doubled over for a belly laugh. "Oh no, I just realized something," she chuckled.

"Er, are you alright, Lila?" Chat Noir asked a little cautiously. "I mean, it can't be _that_ funny…"

"Oh no, it's not that," Lila insisted between laughs. "No, it's about me and my new powers and my little floating friend here…"

"I don't quite follow," Ladybug said, clearly puzzled.

"Oh, it's just funny… you see… I promised everybody that I'd be honest from now on… and now… because you gave me this magical item and Kwami named 'Luupa' who I have to call on every time I want to transform… ha-ha… _now_ you've turned me into the girl who cries wolf!"

They all had to admit, that was actually rather funny.

* * *

_(Artwork done by **Liehl-FerZ** , commissioned by the author)_

**Author's Note:**

> AUTHOR'S NOTES: So yeah, this happened. I saw a couple of other stories which do a Redeemed!Lila thing (see below) and decided to give it a try myself. This is rather "bare bones" because it's a plot bunny, but I really hope to revisit this in the future and deliver an awesome battle scene or two for Lila's akumatized parents. (Speaking of which, kudos if you can guess the joke with the name I gave Lila's father; look at his first name, then remember what the most famous art museum in this city is.) I just had to get this out.
> 
> I dedicate this story to KivaTheDCWizard for inspiring me with his story "Miraculous Alliance" in which, among other things, Lila finds redemption with a new Miraculous item; to lord Martiya for the helpful input about Italian culture; to Khanofallorcs for helping me with making sure Lila's motivations and rationalizations for lying sounded plausible; and to SonicPossible00 for indirectly leading me to the wonderful and super-talented Liehl-FerZ who he had illustrate his own OC heroes for his own big series, which then got me to hire her to do the same for me with Lila as Lupalia. (Seriously, go find her on DeviantArt to check out her awesome work!)
> 
> Fun fact: There was an ancient Roman holiday called Lupercalia, and lupa alia means "other wolf" or "another wolf" in Latin; I got the name "Lupalia" by messing around with that. And yes, I got Luupa's kwami name from the Latin word for "[she-]wolf". And how could I not make use of Roman mythology and lore?
> 
> Also, the Montezuma Lady Beetle (Thalassa montezumae) is an actual species of ladybug with red spots on black. Furthermore, there is a canon past male Ladybug Miraculous wielder, named Mikasoyolin, whose name literally means "Ladybug" in Nahuatl. So I got a villain which is like a color-swapped Aztec-themed villain from those two factoids.
> 
> Now, as for Lila herself…
> 
> I'm no fan of Lila Rossi, because she's done horrible things and she was deliberately made by Thomas Astruc to be "unlovable" and she's a villain with a role to fulfill, and it's extremely unlikely that she'll "see the light" or redeem herself. However, my problem with her as a character isn't that she's an unrepentant villain, but the fact that she wasn't set up as that very well. No, seriously, even most Disney villains have more character depth and more interesting motivations than Lila, and they're arguably better at their jobs as villains than her.
> 
> I'm sure plenty of people have already said and written so much about Miraculous Season 3 and its numerous flaws and shortcomings. One of those things which really bothers me is how Lila is able to get away with outrageous lies and manipulate everybody else in Marinette's life with such ease, with the episodes "Chameleon" and "Ladybug" being the biggest examples. I understand the show's creators are trying to make things more challenging for our hero Marinette as she finds herself more and more isolated, and I know it's still a children's cartoon aimed at a younger demographic not known for being sophisticated, but come on. If you really need to dumb down everyone else's intelligence to advance the plot and make things harder for the heroes, then you might want to reconsider your storytelling strategy. (One of Sigourney Weaver's best lines as Ellen Ripley in Aliens comes to mind for me: "Did IQs just drop sharply while I was away?")
> 
> (Minor digression to make a point for comparison's sake: Since I've been writing my Miraculous crossover story "Butterfly Effect Elsewhere," I've been rereading the Animorphs book series by K.A. Applegate to make sure I get certain details right for that story… and HOLY [BLEEP], does Lila remind me of David from that series, the more I think about it. No, seriously, she's like a female version of him, and they have so much in common I could write an entire essay comparing those two cretins. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, David is arguably a much better example of how to do "a new kid in town who turns evil and becomes a serious threat" than Lila.)
> 
> Thanks again for reading!


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